Well, it’s getting close to the end of the year, and it wouldn’t surprise me if some of the OG writers started breaking out their “Best of 2011” lists… (hint, hint…) I know that I’ve been quiet lately on the blog, but I’ve been working hard trying to get all of the new games played. Thus far, I’ve played over 55 new Essen titles – or more correctly, games new since October – and I’m just about ready to start writing about them.
In the meantime, instead of making my own list, I thought it would be a good idea to go over the games which won accolades in 2011. Each of the “major” awards has a different jury and different target audience, so there is usually some variation seen when comparing the winners.
- Spiel des Jahres: Qwirkle
- Kennerspiel des Jahres: 7 Wonders
- Deutscher Spiele Preis: 7 Wonders
- International Gamers Award: 7 Wonders
- Golden Geek Award: Dominant Species
- Games Magazine (awarded 12/2010): Jump Gate
- Meeple’s Choice: 7 Wonders, Innovation, London
Then, I went ahead and generated a chart of the previous winners of these awards. Looking at the award winners in a longitudinal sense can really give you a good feel for what games were hot in a particular year.
You can see the whole chart for yourself at this link found in the black menu bar near the top of the page: Game Award Chart
Tikal 2 won Games Magazine’s Game of the Year in 2011.
7 Wonders also won the a la carte award as the Best Cardgame of the year.
There are also a slew of national Best Game awards, of course, but there are a couple I like to track, as they have a good history. Austria’s Spiel der Spiele went to Asara. And the Tric Trac award from France went to Troyes.